Siabra path
In our reality, siabra paths are a complex network of invisible, interconnected lines covering the face of Landfall like a giant spider web. These paths are accessible via pathstones -- magical trees, rocks, mushrooms, and carved pillars scattered throughout the world. Upon passing through a pathstone, a traveler leaves our reality and enters the siabra's reality -- a mysterious metaphysical domain where time and distance behave in unpredictable ways, similar to a fae dell. The traveler may leave the paths and return to our reality through another pathstone. Paths may be entered at any time, but the traveler will always emerge at midnight. (All "time" in the siabra domain corresponds to all "midnights" in our reality.) Siabra paths are best known for their unmatched potential as a method of traveling enormous distance in a short period of time. With a properly planned and mapped path, a person can use siabra paths to cross the entire planet in a single night. The bizarre, unpredictable nature of siabra, however, makes this dangerous. Elder Name Siabra refer to their paths as thuz n’cryth ar shar druhul l’threg n’ma’ars. In ancient Elder, this translates as "cracks in the shattered glass face of the world." Discovery and Research Siabra paths were discovered near the end of the Myriad and became a niche, highly dangerous area of study. Some ziraduun were lost inside, never to return. The limited magical research theorized that the path network emerged as an unintended, unnatural magical excitation of an underlying network of impossibly thin natural filaments in the Between -- an unanticipated consequence of man-kin's heavy use of wizrada. According to the theory, these filaments permeate a "shell" around the flesh, transmitting echoes to and from the shadow and the grim dream, like waves on a string. By this theory, man-kin's folly polluted the filaments with woe, thereby creating siabra and their paths as a metaphysical manifestation of the resulting "fatigue" and "cracks" in reality. It was further postulated that the siabra and their reality are two different faces of the same mysterious phenomenon. In other words, the siabra are their paths; and the paths are siabra. Kin minds, unable to understand the siabra's alien reality, perceive them as two different things. Study of the Between was outlawed, so these theories were never confirmed nor disproved. Most records of Myriad research into siabra paths have since been lost. Opening the Path A special type of artifact called an abrakd'tarr is required to "open" a siabra pathstone. These may be jaishen'tarr or maeren'tarr, and they were enchanted by ziraduun during the Myriad using magical techniques that have since been lost. There are only a few known abrakd'tarr still in existence. The path "activates" automatically when the abrakd'tarr is brought close to the pathstone. Everyone within a small radius will be pulled out of reality and into the siabra domain. Only the person possessing the abrakd'tarr will "experience" the siabra's alternate reality. Everyone else who got "pulled in" will enter a mindless stasis, still outside the River of Ages, and become passive "passengers." The traveler, alone, will be asked to designate a destination and pay the toll. Then everyone will emerge simultaneously from the exit. Theoretically, abrakd is a magical spell that may be cast without need for a physical artifact. The technique behind this spell has been lost since the Myriad. It is likely very complex. A pathstone may only be used once per day, regardless of whether it is used as an entrance or an exit. Thus, similar to a fae dell, a traveler must always exit from a different place than where he entered. Paying the Toll Siabra will immediately interdict all kin passing through their realm. After a short conversation, they will always demand a "toll" from the traveler. The toll must be paid in something of value to the siabra; they will refuse crass offerings of gold and money. Instead, they take only meaningful, symbolic offerings with strong emotional attachment to the traveler. When the physical item is handed over, the traveler may experience a profound sense of loss, permanent changes to personality, or permanent loss of certain memories. Part of the traveler's soul is lost, presumably taken by the siabra -- yet another reason why using pathstones is dangerous. It is theoretically possible to unload feelings of mourning and misery on the siabra. By handing over the right meaningful object as payment, painful memories may be eased or erased. There is always, however, a risk of losing good memories instead. It is hard to predict what the siabra will take. It is possible to go mad from overuse of siabra paths. The cumulative effect of tolls can steadily dismantle a person's mind and soul. Choosing the Destination The only exits from the siabra domain are through pathstones. The traveler must specify his destination upon paying the toll, and siabra will guide the traveler down the proper path. This can be more complicated and dangerous than it sounds. First, there must be a pathstone at the destination, or the siabra will not understand the request. Second, the traveler must know the siabra's name for the destination, which is usually different from the man-kin name. This can be a major difficulty, since siabra have a "timeless" perception of Landfall. The siabra name might be extremely ancient, utterly lost to written history. Or it might be a name from the future. This alone severely limits the number of destinations available to man-kin travelers. Siabra are notoriously impatient and will not volunteer information if the traveler cannot figure it out. It is unknown what would happen to a traveler who could not name a single valid destination, but many people have disappeared in the siabra realm, never to return. During the Myriad, brave ziraduun tried to map the pathstone network, deducing, testing, and recording the siabra names for as many valid destinations as possible. Most of these maps have since been lost. Paths in the Flesh Siabra paths cut long, straight lines across the surface of Landfall. Common superstition holds that any man-made buildings or structures accidentally constructed on a siabra path are cursed, and that the siabra will come at night to dismantle or destroy the obstruction. Such curses may be mitigated, however, by leaving front and back doors and windows open, as well as interior doors, thereby allowing invisible siabra spirits to pass freely through the house. Most siabra paths are far from big man-kin settlements, so this is rarely a real problem and more of a superstition. One notable exception, however, is the city of Cloudport, in Bruhinn, which has a wide grassy boulevard running perfectly straight through the middle of the city. Every attempt to build anything on this boulevard has met with seemingly random catastrophe and failure, ever since the Myriad. Locals consider it a siabra path and no longer try to build there. The boulevard is a popular park during the day, but avoided at night. It is also considered bad luck to cross a street at midnight, lest one anger invisible siabra racing down the street. Outside the River of Ages The siabra paths are "outside" the River of Ages. Therefore, time inside the paths does not correspond to time in Landfall. Regardless of when the traveler entered or how long he spends inside, he will always emerge at his destination on the next midnight in Landfall. Siabra demonstrate mysterious knowledge of events in the future and distant past. Indeed, all of time (the entire River of Ages) seems somehow accessible from the siabra's reality. During the Myriad, some ziraduun questioned siabra about the future, but the siabra's answers were cryptic and never useful. Nonetheless, various enduring prophecies are based on siabra riddles.